Tag: Religion in America

Brian McLaren writes on the Patheos “Future of Mainline Protestantism” blog of his thoughts on the future of Christianity.

Another survey describes the rise of the “nones:” adult Americans who do not claim a religious affiliation.

The Gallup Poll says that forty-four percent of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in “the church or organized religion.”

An Authoritative God is thought to be actively engaged in daily activities and historical outcomes. For those with an Authoritative God, value concerns are synonymous with economic concerns because God has a guiding hand in both. Around two-thirds of believers in an Authoritative God conjoin their theology with free-market economics, creating a new religious-economic idealism. Nearly one-fifth of American voters hold this viewpoint.

I had a yearning for something else, more permanent, which is why I turned to a church. Always one to tell others that religion has been a crutch for the weak, and the cause of wars, prejudices and everything abhorrent, I had to eat a little crow. It was worth it though, because I found something I was looking for, at least for now, in the most unlikely of places.

The 2.3 million member Missouri Synod Lutheran Church and Anglican Church in North America have begun talks about ways they might cooperate in areas of common concern. In particular they plan to work together to outlaw marriage equality and abortion.

Atheists have been around for decades, and they’ve been organizing for decades. But something new, something big, has been happening in atheism in the last few years — atheism has become much more visible, more vocal, more activist, better organized, and more readily mobilized — especially online, but increasingly in the flesh as well.